MEARNS, ARTHUR STEWART
09/30/77 REMAINS RETURNED
Name: Arthur Stewart Mearns
Branch/Rank: United States Air Force/O4
Unit: 80th
Tactical Fighter Squadron
Date of Birth: 12 July 1929
Home City of Record: GREAT NECK NY
Date of Loss: 11 November 1966
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 211359 North 1070457 East
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 1
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: F105D
Missions:
Other Personnel in Incident:
Refno: 0519
Source: Compiled by P.O.W. NETWORK from one or more of the following: raw
data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA
families, published sources, interviews and CACCF = Combined Action
Combat Casualty File. 2020
REMARKS:
Quang Ninh near Dinh Lap, fifteen miles from China. Cora Weiss said he
was dead. The squadron leader said the mission was to interdict rail
from China to Hanoi.
09/30/77 REMAINS RETURNED BY SRV
CACCF PILOT/CRASH
EGRESS HITESHEW WINGMAN/MEARNS BAD BURNS/DIED
No further information available at this time.
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01/2020
https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000000ukCsqEAE
On October 25, 1977, the Central Identification Lab-Hawaii (CILHI,
now DPAA) identified the remains of Colonel Arthur Stewart
Mearns, missing from the Vietnam War.
Colonel Mearns, who joined the U.S. Air Force from New York,
served with the 80th Tactical Fighter Squadron. On November 11,
1966, he piloted an F-105D Thunderchief (serial number 62-4313)
on a strike mission in Quang Ninh Province, North Vietnam.
During the mission, the Thunderchief was shot down by enemy
anti-aircraft artillery and Col Mearns was seen ejecting from
his aircraft. He died in the aftermath of the crash, though the
exact circumstances of his loss remain unknown. Hostile presence
in the area inhibited immediate recovery efforts. In 1977, the
Vietnamese government repatriated remains to the U.S. which were
later identified as those of Col Mearns.
Colonel Mearns is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at
the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
If you are a family member of this serviceman, you may contact your casualty office representative to learn more about your service member.